ISSUE #9

ISSUE #9 ”The way students and scholars interpret the materials they work with in their academic fields is more a matter of personality than of training. Different interpretations come about when people with different personalities look at exactly the same objects, facts, data, or events and see different things.”

Were it not for the creative temperament of humankind, the work of students and scholars would be a rather dull task. And if only one conclusion existed to be found from their work, not many people would aspire to become scholars in a particular academic field. So while training certainly has it’s place for students in every field, it is the creativity, the individuality of all that perpetuates the process of study and progress therefrom. 

The training of students and scholars is very important to the progress of all academic fields. People are usually trained how to spot certain things – data, objects, effects, etc. – and how to work with them. Training on how to work with these things is training on the process of understanding how they could fit into a given setting. But interpreting HOW and interpreting WHAT are entirely different matters. A student or scholar may be trained to understand hieroglyphs as a method of expression, but the interpretation of what the hieroglyphs mean is up to the individual studying them. The meaning may – and surely does! – differ from one scholar to the next.

The differences in the interpretation of scholars has quite a positive effect on their respective academic fields. If there was only one possible conclusion to be drawn from the materials they work with, there would be no need for multiple students and scholars in the same field – one or two of the best would be enough. But since definitive answers are hard to procure for any question, different personalities, and the resulting differing perspectives on the same material, means there is a better chance for progress in the field. The adage that two heads are better than one comes to mind.

There are always new interpretations surfacing about the same materials. It is these new interpretations that challenge the beliefs and findings of students and scholars, and ultimately perpetuates further study of the same materials. This is the process of academic studies. Since all students and scholars are trained to objectively look at and work with data, objects, effects, etc., there is a measure of validity in everyone’s interpretation. Everyone’s interpretation must be reckoned with in some way or other. Progress is made, then, when the same materials are viewed by many people with different personalities.